Summer is over. I am sure to miss my weekend morning ritual of walking to the farmer’s market, buying groceries for the week while sampling various produce. In farmers markets, I find uniqueness in commonest ingredients (e.g., heirloom tomatoes) and often run into an uncommon gem. One of the things I grew to love this summer were tomatillos, pineapple tomatillos to be precise.

Tomatillo (L is often silent) is a popular fruit/vegetable grown in Mexico. Tomatillos have been gaining popularity in the United States. It looks similar to tomatoes but has meatier flesh than tomatoes. The sticky glutinous pulp is covered by husk like in cape gooseberry fruits. Generally, tomatillos are a bit sweeter than sweet tomatoes. Many Mexican dishes contain liberal use of tomatillos. Tomatillos are still not a mainstream ingredient but most of us have enjoyed dishes made with it, such as salsa verde (green salsa) or many other Mexican dishes.

This summer, I tried pineapple tomatillos for the first time. A super enthusiastic vendor at my the farmer’s market was handing them out. I am glad that I was curious enough to try them.

Pineapple Tomatillo Classification

There is much confusion about pineapple tomatillos — if they are same thing as tomatoes or cape gooseberry, etc.

Tomatillos are not unripe green tomatoes although they are often called “green tomatoes”. Both are from same family, Solanaceae, but from different genus Solanum (tomato) and Physalis (tomatillo). Tomato and tomatillo has as much similarities asother familiar vegetables such as potatoes and eggplants, which belong to the same family, Solanaceae.

Pineapple tomatillo is a cultivar of tomatillo, which is Physalis philadelphica (or ixocarpa)while cape gooseberry is Physalis peruviana. Pineapple tomatillos are from the same genus but are from different species. They are similar in same way as a cow (Bos primigenius) is similar to an yak (Bos grunniens) and we (Homo sapiens) are similar to neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis).

Pineapple Tomatillos in the Farmers Market

The regular green tomatillos are becoming common and can be bought at majority of large grocery stores around the country. Pineapple tomatillos are harder to find cultivar of tomatillos often found only in farmers markets.

Pineapple tomatillos are smaller than regular tomatillos, similar in size and shape to cherry tomatoes. Like any tomatillos, the fruit of pineapple tomatillos are covered in papery husk. The flavor is unique a blend of tomato and sweetness of pineapple.

At $5.50 per pint, pineapple tomatillos were not super affordable. I bought them without any idea on how to eat them. After buying, I probed the enthusiastic vendor for ideas. His reply was to eat directly as a snack or add them in a summer salad. After probing further, he let me in his secret – he often uses pineapple tomatillos as toppings for vanilla ice cream.

Pineapple Tomatillo Recipe

After returning from the farmers market, I fixed myself a bowl of vanilla ice cream with pineapple tomatillos on top of it. It was a good excuse to eat ice cream. Pineapple tomatillos were a perfect topping for the ice cream. They were not too sweet to overpower sweetness of the ice cream. Pineapple tomatillo’s succulent texture complimented perfectly with smooth melting ice cream.

In coming days, I finished my first batch of pineapple tomatillos as topping to a half gallon of vanilla ice cream. If I have to defend myself, part of the reason was because I couldn’t find any recipes for pineapple tomatillos online. Most of them used pineapple fruit and regular tomatillos. The following week, I went to the farmers market looking for pineapple tomatillos – determined not just to use them as ice cream toppings but in few other recipes. They were out of pineapple tomatillos for this year. Definitely next season!

10 comments for this post.

Nice! I tend to think they’re just meant to be eaten plain, or like you ate them. They’re simple and fleeting, and they’re really easy to grow in a garden in Portland, Oregon. I like them because they’re so surprising and strange. Good for you for trying them! And thank you for the comment on my blog.

I think they are natural with ice cream. I’d puree them and swirl them in the icecream. (this is probably inspired by an award winning icecream recipe with green tomatoes (marbelized in icecream and goat cheese) at the recent Red Fruit Festival. See photo and recipe on my foodster.com (on Facebook). )I am going to farmers market today and will look for these–but probably have to wait till next summer.

You’re right the photo did not have much green from the tomato. And at the Red Fruit festival, they served mini restaurant cocktail versions of it–and it was not “marbelized” at all! No green color whatsover–I am guessing it just blended with the icecream. Tasted good though. (When you like icecream and goat cheese–what’s not to like?) So I want to try this without straining the tomato puree through a sieve or cloth. I will peel the tomatoes first, but will let the seeds and pulp remain in the puree. Wait till I post on Foodster.com:-)

I found this plant at Mulberry Creek organic herb farm and bought two of them to plant in a raised garden bed. Now their must be enough fruit to fill at least two pints and still counting. The plants are easy to grow if you can find them in a nursery already started. Can’t wait to eat them when ripe! I agree with the first post about the tomatillos being eaten plain or just right out of the husk.

Hi,
I am writing an article for the Dutchess County (NY) master gardener plant sale. This year we are offering Pineapple Tomatillos. May I have permission to use your picture of the bowl of pineapple tomatillos? I’ve grown them many times, but unfortunately I’ve never photographed them.

Just bought my first pinapple tomatillo at my local farmers market. Tasted one and had to have them. I think I will try and make salsa with them. It sounds as if I made a good choice in purchasing, as they seem to be very time limited. I also will save seeds from one as I have never seen seedlings for sale. I paid $2.00 a pint which seems to have been a good deal. I love finding new produce to eat and experiment with.